I wonder if I will ever stop marveling at how much a baby can change in a month’s time. It seems like my girl does something new every day. She is amazingly clever, and even those who only see her once in a while comment on her ability to figure almost anything out: how to open caps, lids, and tops, how to find something we hid from her, how to get to something we put out of her reach, how to put different shapes into holes, how to manipulate objects to do what she wants them to do. She tries to put keys into locks and turn them, she turns doorknobs, she gently smells flowers, and she takes things apart that I didn’t realize could even come apart. She now blows her nose into cloths, so I have no use for a nose frida! It has really made runny noses so much more easy to deal with. She brushes her teeth (and mine) and imitates shaving my legs. Basically, she is just very successful at being a copycat now, and learning how to be a big girl fast!
She still loves balls and dogs more than anything (except her mama). She still only says “uh oh” and “ball” consistently every time, but this week I’ve noticed “hi” becoming more consistent, and a few other words making occasional appearances. She is a good signer, however, and definitely knows how to communicate her basic needs and wants. Every morning she signs “eat” and runs to the high chair to rattle the tray. She’ll do this for other meals, too.
She is a mama’s girl all the way! And I love it. She’s very moderate in a lot of ways… not very shy, but not very outgoing. Not happy-go-lucky, but not too serious either. When she’s in the mood to laugh or be funny, she’ll let us know, but she can’t be coerced into that kind of mood. Her most obvious traits continue to be how observant, focused, and determined she is. It is hard to distract her from what she wants, and if she’s working on a new skill she practices it a hundred times an hour with unbreakable focus. She is mechanically minded, she wants to see and feel how things work. She wants to figure it out, and she won’t stop trying until she does. She revels in her new accomplishments and demands to do, eat, drink, sit, and act the way all of the adults do. She will accept help, and even ask for it, if it gets her closer to whatever goal she is trying to achieve at the moment, but her sight is ultimately always set on independence!
At night before sleeping, we cuddle in my bed, and she turns on her side and backs up into me. She throws her feet up on my thighs. She takes a long time to drift off (as do I) and often turns to me for kissies several times before she falls asleep.
We also have started practicing sitting on the potty. She doesn’t do anything yet (accept ask me to take her off after a few seconds) but I’m just introducing the concept to her. She can bring me her diapers when she needs to be changed, so she’s understanding something!
Eating is our biggest struggle. Sometimes she still eats a full meal, and even feeds herself with a spoon, no problem. Far too frequently, however, she asks to eat only to throw whatever I give her onto the ground, or spit it out, or just plain shove it away. I’m assured over and over that this is typical toddler behavior, so I offer a second choice, and if she doesn’t want that either, we are done until the next snack. She is really a smart cookie, she understands that after two choices, she doesn’t get anything else until the next eating time.
This month we had only one health-related issue (besides the stuffy nose, which didn’t seem to bother her at all): constipation. For the very first time, my regular girl started crying as she tried to poop, and crying more when she did poop. She produced hard eggs for a few days while I fed her sippy after sippy of apple juice. She started moving again, and the hard poops went away, but we are stocked up on prune and apple juice now, just in case! It may just be the fact that she’s completely off formula and eating harder and harder foods, like cheese, and chicken. The girl has about 14 teeth now and can bite off or chew anything I can! Also, the weather is hotter, but I don’t think it’s possible that she’s dehydrated. This is because she drinks water all day long, probably 3x as much as I do (and she loudly proclaims “Mmmmmm!” after each sip!).
Mother of All Things 
Wallace was just throwing everything onto the floor until I started putting him at a little tray table on the floor. Now he eats until he is done and crawls away to play!